Hershey spoils Penncrest party at Marple

By Matt Chandik

It didn’t need much encouragement to do so, but once Hershey air balled four consecutive 3-point attempts, the massive sea of red-clad students reached a fever pitch.

Jake Wilson (above) and Hershey came into Marple Newtown and survived a sizeable Penncrest contingent. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Penncrest’s student section came out in force for Friday night’s PIAA Class 5A tournament opener against Hershey, with only 10 minutes or so separating them from Marple Newtown’s gym. The Lions’ faithful were quick to not-so-subtly remind the Trojans that those 3-pointers hadn’t even come close to hitting rim, let alone dropping through the hoop.

Jake Wilson made sure to bring the volume down, though. Minutes later, Wilson, who was part of the nothing-but-air 3-point barrage, cashed in on all six of his fourth-quarter free throws. In what essentially a road game, Wilson and the Trojans quieted the crowd and ousted the District One champions via a 51-42 victory.

“I love this kind of environment, so I feed off that energy. The crowd’s against you, stuff like that just motivates me to play even harder,” said Wilson, who finished with 14 points and six rebounds. “The adrenaline was going for us, which is probably we air balled those shots, but we were able to come back, make our free throws and ice the game.”

(Webmaster’s note: The Hershey vs. Penncrest PIAA Playoff game was our Game-of-the-Week and can be heard on our Archives link on the left hand side of the page.)

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